The effect of displacement current on fast-pulsed dielectric barrier discharges

Applied voltage and gas pressure dependent electrical power deposition efficiencies in a short voltage pulse excited dielectric barrier discharge have been measured. The effect of time delay between the onset of gas breakdown, peak conduction current and the applied voltage pulse with increasing gas pressure leads to higher net power deposition at lower E/n, where E is the electric field and n is the gas density. An accurate measurement of the power deposition requires careful estimation of the displacement current with the applied voltage as the voltage time derivative dV/dt increases. The variation of optical emission intensity measurements of Ar 2p₁–1s₂, N₂ C–B and N₂⁺ B–X transitions with increasing gas pressure validated the conclusions reached from the time resolved electrical measurements.